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July 23, 2008

G103: Red Sox 6, Mariners 3 (12)

Justin Masterson -- After Buchholz allowed a game-tying home run to Jose Vidro in the sixth, he walked Adrian Beltre on four pitches and allowed a single to Jeremy Reed. Masterson, who had begun warming when Boston had a 3-1 lead, came in (so much for Terry Francona's wish for a 10-run lead for Masterson's first relief appearance). The bald rookie was up to the high-leverage task, however, needing only seven pitches to whiff both Kenji Johjima and Bryan LaHair. He then set down the Mariners in order in the seventh (L9, 4-3, L7) and eighth (3-1, K, 5-3).

Hideki Okajima -- Got two quick outs to start the ninth -- the second one on a stupendous running catch in short left-center by Jacoby Ellsbury (who had ended the seventh with a over-the-head grab after sprinting to the warning track in left). Then Jeemer walked pinch-hitter Miguel Cairo on four pitches. Out came Tito.

Manny Delcarmen -- With the winning run on first, MDC fell behind Willie Bloomquist 2-0, got two fouls, and then a grounder to second. On to the 10th. MDC retired Ichiro Suzuki on a fly to short center and fanned Jose Lopez and Raul Ibanez.

Jonathan Papelbon -- Opened the 11th by being unable to field Vidro's chopper down the first base line. It probably should have been an error on Bot, but Vidro got credit for a hit. Beltre, swinging for a heroic dong, struck out on four pitches. Yuniesky Betancourt singled to right-center, and Vidro (who had been off with the pitch) raced to third. But Johjima grounded a 1-2 pitch to third and Lowell started a routine 5-4-3 double play.

(In the top of the 12th, the Red Sox scored three times. Ellsbury singled to right and took second on Dustin Pedroia's grounder to second. Drew was intentionally walked. Kevin Youkilis's fly ball to deep center glanced off Bloomquist's glove for an error, loading the bases. Mike Lowell singled to left, scoring two runs. After a pitching change, Sean Casey singled in the third run of the inning.)

Craig Hansen -- With one out, Bloomquist's chopper hit off Hansen's glove for a single. Ichiro flew out to center, but Lopez singled and Hansen began nibbling, walking Ibanez to load the bases. After John Farrell came out and told him to get his head out of his ass, Hansen fell behind Vidro 3-0 (grrrrrr) -- putting Boston one errant pitch away from what would have been a highly annoying loss -- then got a called strike before getting a routine, game-ending ground ball to Pedroia.

Buchholz pitched well for five innings, allowing only four hits (one of them a solo home run from Ibanez) and striking out six. He also picked Ichiro off first base in the first inning. HH finished with a 5.1-7-3-2-7, 98 line.

After needing 37 pitches to get through the first inning in his last start, Buchholz will alter his pre-game routine, so that, as the Herald puts it, "his first inning feels more like his second or third". HH:

When I get maybe three-quarters of the way through, [I'll] sit down for a little bit in the bullpen and then when I get up, finish the rest of it. They'll try to manipulate me sitting down and getting back up for the first time and see how that works, and maybe we can break that first-inning barrier that's there right now.

Batters are hitting .349/.431/.581 against Buchholz in the first inning this year (51 PA).

[Hernandez] was sharp in his first post-All-Star start, holding the Indians to four hits and two runs over six innings, striking out nine along the way. ... Lack of run support had been a problem for Hernandez, who had to make due with an average of 3.47 runs in his first 17 starts.

I cannot believe that Manny's encounter over jaywalking has been turned into a media event. That is really, really going too far. An affair with Madonna---that's news. How can anyone justify this? But it did give Francona a chance to flash his sense of humor, which is terrific---even better than old Joe Morgan's dry pronouncements. Tito is probably the funniest Sox manager ever---and that's not an irrelevant job skill.

No, ESPN and the rest are just using it on a slow news day to ridicule him, treat him like a big clown, manufacture a MBM where none exists. Francona's response when told about it, by the way, was: “That’s the last straw. He’s not going to play!” Jaywalking!!! My god---in Boston, jaywalking is a way of life!

I'm hoping for consistent bullpen breakdowns from TFR. They're only a year removed from the 6ERA in the pen, and I don't see why some bad outings wouldn't shake their confidence and crush their dreams!!!!!

"Did the media members I alluded to gripe when their personal hero Curt Schilling went on the airwaves and discussed his contract situation last year? Of course not."

&

"The more things change ... the more they stay the same. The funniest part, of course, is that those who are bashing Manny now with the same techniques are also uniform in their praise of Williams. I'm sure 30-40 years down the road, there will be a new Manny/Ted, and the entire cycle will repeat itself."

********

Yep, and the writers in 2035 will long for the glory days of Manny Ramirez, and who may not have been perfect, but he played the game the right way ... unlike players today.

wow, anyone see the mets game last night? i know our bullpen isn't the best, but YIKES!

and of course NY radio killing santana for not going 9 innings. he was at 105 pitches after 8. but let me tell you, if tito was managing, and bot was unavailable like wagner was, theres not way that beckett, or even dice-k or wake arent going back out there for at least one batter in the 9th. but watching santana pitching to get that last out in the 8th, he looked scared. like he was pitching not to blow it, instead of pitching to win. i truly dont think the guy has fire. he seems to me like a little bit of a pussy, quite honestly. he's got that sort of mike stanley depresso look in his eyes when he pitches.

I'm sure this must've come up with all the talk here of in-game ads, but did you see on Gameday, how on that little scoreboard that pops up to say "SINGLE" or whatever, will often flash an ad? Mid-inning.

I'm sure this must've come up with all the talk here of in-game ads, but did you see on Gameday, how on that little scoreboard that pops up to say "SINGLE" or whatever, will often flash an ad? Mid-inning.

I don't think we mentioned it. When I have GDGD open while we thread, that part of the application is usually cut off by the top of my screen, so most of the time I don't see it.

Edes:Terry Francona said Ramirez showed up this morning and said his right knee was sore, an overnight development that the manager said caught him by surprise. ... Francona then joked, "The (expletive) jaywalking, if you do it right, you won't hurt your knee."

Edes also says that Manny was "singing for tips at his locker in the clubhouse, with his I-Pod docked to a speaker and a cup out seeking donations from teammates".

GDGD: It's ridiculous, that scoreboard-looking thing will pop up to tell you what happened, and every once in a while, it'll follow it up with a "brought to you by..." and the corporate logo appears in yellow scoreboard-ish lights.

high chopper. Holz falls off back of mound, catches ball while on back, throws to first from butt barely getting the guy. Ump calls him safe. A robot ump would've made the right call. HH comes back to strike out the next guy.

The GDGD clip of Ichiro's catch has a Coors commercial in the middle, which annoyed me, but it subsided a little when it became clear that it was part of the broadcast and not something GDGD was starting to insert into clips.

Just to be clear, zenslinger, I'm not sitting here fuming. I pointed out that NESN did something they absolutely shouldn't do, and I was told be someone else that I was being too harsh, as if he's the judge of it. THAT is what pissed me off. I can be as harsh or anti-harsh about anything in the world I want.

wow, I posted that sked which shows NESN on BOTH channels showing the game before I saw redsock say that the TV package is showing the Seattle feed and ish said it's showing both feeds. Very confused now.

there are many times i watch mlbtv at work with the red sox at home and i get the other team's feed.

I think we discussed this last year with the same result. Most of the time its the home teams feed on mlb.com, I know whenever I log on to mlb.com I get the home team feed, but then I just have the basic. I wonder if you get a different because you use a canada isp?

By the way, earlier today I was able to watch both home and away feeds for the Yankees/Twins game. My first day with EI free preview, that I knew of, and I got to watch all sorts of getaway day games. Fantastic.